


Pick of the litter

by PixelByPixel



Category: Daredevil (TV), The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: (don't ask), Disney+, Dogs, Fluff, M/M, Slice of Life, actual communication, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:27:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22323325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PixelByPixel/pseuds/PixelByPixel
Summary: Frank has been disappearing every Friday night. Matt never would have guessed the reason.
Relationships: Frank Castle/Matt Murdock
Comments: 18
Kudos: 90
Collections: Fratt Week, Marvel Fluff Bingo





	Pick of the litter

**Author's Note:**

> This is for [Fratt Week](https://frattweek.tumblr.com/) day 5, Dog  
> It also fills my [Marvel Fluff Bingo square](https://pixelbypixelfanfic.tumblr.com/bingo) for _soft under the hard exterior_. (Which is any of my Frank fics tbh.)
> 
> Many thanks to [titC](https://archiveofourown.org/users/titC/) for the beta! <3

It kept happening.

Every Friday, Frank would disappear for about half an hour. His phone was always gone but his keys were still on the rack he'd put in by the door, which also held Matt's keys and cane. 

At first, Matt didn't think too much about it. Maybe Frank had to make a phone call or something like that. But it kept happening and so finally Matt listened for Frank. 

Matt tried not to do that; Frank was an adult and Matt trusted him. But the pattern was so odd - always Fridays, though not always at the same time - that Matt couldn't help himself. 

Oh, sure, he could have just asked Frank where he kept going, but where was the fun in that? 

So one Friday, when Frank had been gone for about ten minutes, Matt listened for him. He was... huh, on the roof. Okay. Matt shrugged and made his way up there and, yep, there was Frank. His shoe scuffed as he turned toward the door, and Matt heard him fumbling with his phone. 

"Everything okay?" Matt asked, using his best _I'm definitely not stalking you_ voice. 

"Uh. Yeah."

But, no, everything clearly wasn't okay. Frank's voice had gone husky in a way it usually only did when he was talking about his family. 

"Really? Because you don't sound okay." 

Frank was quiet for a moment and then he sighed, and Matt heard an unspoken _aw, hell_ in that sigh. "No, I am. I'm just." He sighed again, sounding desperately uncomfortable as he explained, "There's a TV show I'm watching, that's all." 

Well, now Matt _had_ to know. "Wait, you've been sneaking off every Friday to... to watch TV on your phone?" 

"Yeah." Frank's voice had a certain hangdog quality to it. "I know you can't, and I didn't want it to be a thing." He paused, then added, tone a little wry, "But if you've noticed, I guess it's a thing." 

"Hey, no, it's fine. I mean, I don't see like most people, but you should still be able to enjoy that kind of thing." He added, half in jest, "Want to go to a movie tomorrow?" 

"Uh, no. But thanks. Never was a big fan of movies. There's always some asshole talking or a kid who should be in bed. That kind of thing." 

Curious, Matt asked, "What show were you watching? You can, you know, watch it in the apartment if you'd rather. It's warmer there and I promise not to look over your shoulder." 

"Ha," Frank said, his voice both amused and sounding like he half wanted to call Matt an asshole for the blind joke. It was a familiar tone of voice. "Uh. You can't laugh. Or tell Nelson."

"Okay," Matt replied because at this point he'd agree to anything to find out. He found Frank and slipped a hand in the crook of his arm. "Let's go inside first, though. It's cold." 

Frank made a vague sound of agreement and soon enough they were ensconced on the couch. "Okay. It's a documentary series," he said, stressing _documentary_ a bit, "about raising guide dog puppies." 

Matt wasn't really sure how to reply, mainly because he didn't know what Frank's motivation for watching it was. "Uh. Huh. What network is that on?" 

There was another of those sighs from Frank before he admitted, "Disney+." 

And that raised a whole host of questions, the foremost being, "You have a subscription to Disney+? Or are you, uh, illegally downloading a Disney documentary about puppies." 

"Hey, you said you wouldn't laugh," Frank said, sounding resigned. 

"I am not laughing." He wasn't. Really. Barely. "But this seems... out of character." 

The couch creaked as Frank leaned back. "I got a free year of it because I've got unlimited data, and somebody at my day job was talking about that Jeff Goldblum show and I thought, _what the hell_."

"... you like Jeff Goldblum? Hey," he added as Frank sighed again. "I'm not laughing. I swear. He has a great voice." 

"Jurassic Park is a classic," Frank said finally. 

"I believe you. Dinosaurs. Love 'em." 

"And when I was looking for the Goldblum thing, I saw the puppy show and, well. It's about guide dogs. Thought it might be interesting." 

He stopped talking and Matt waited for a while before prompting, "Is it?" 

"Yeah. They've started introducing the people who are going to get the dogs and there's even a blind lawyer." 

"Huh. We do exist in the wild." 

Frank made a low sound that wasn't quite a laugh and settled in closer to Matt. "I just want to find out how it all works out. It's not making fun of the blind folks, or…” He frowned a little, as if over his word choice. “Exploiting them or anything." 

"Good." Frank was thinking about it, at least. Sometimes those shows were just awful, making blind people out to be saints or martyrs. Not that Matt had ever been called either of those things, _really_. 

"And the puppy raisers and trainers, they do real good work." 

"Yeah, I'm sure they do. It sounds really interesting, Frank. It just seemed like you were, uh, emotionally invested in it." 

Matt felt Frank's shoulder move, maybe in a shrug. "Yeah. One of the blind women, she has a twin, also blind. Since they were born. And I was thinking how it must have been for their folks right at first, two blind babies. Hell, I was terrified when Maria and I brought Lisa home, and she was just one kid, and she could see. But they're doing great, in college and all. And one of them is getting a dog."

"Not both?" Matt asked, curious despite himself. There had been talk of him getting a dog, back when he was a kid, and then again when he was getting ready for college. The first time had been… well, Stick had just started training him and had made it very clear that Matt didn’t need a dog. And he didn’t, really. 

Before college, Matt had realized that even though his way of seeing was different, he could still get by. He didn’t want to take a dog away from somebody who really needed it. So he’d politely declined. 

"Yeah, I wondered about that, too. The show doesn't go into it, but maybe later. Right now they're mostly focused on the dogs." Frank inhaled a breath and let it out slowly, sounding like he was turning toward Matt. "I think I might want to do that. Raise a puppy to maybe be a guide dog." 

There was a nearly audible _but_ at the end of that sentence: but Frank and Matt lived together now, so Matt should at least be consulted. 

"How long do you have the puppy?" 

"Eighteen months. At least, that's how long it is on the show, but that's in California."

"Huh. And then you give it back to the... whoever does the training?" 

"Yeah. That part was hard, on the show. The families were crying, but one little girl, she had a great head on her shoulders. She said she just wanted the dog to do well." 

Listening to Frank describe it, Matt realized that he seemed pretty invested. "Have you checked into how it would work here?" 

"Just a little looking around on websites." Frank hesitated, then added, "I know it's a lot. A puppy is work, and then I - we - would just give it away. But it's a good thing to do." 

"Yeah, no, it is," Matt agreed. What caught at his mind was that Frank was implying long-term: not just regarding his own life, which often seemed a one day at a time sort of existence, but also in terms of him _and_ Matt. Matt smiled a little. It was a nice thought. "I mean, there's a certain irony in the situation that I have to appreciate."

Frank laughed, a low rumble that Matt felt through the couch. "Yeah, I thought so, too." 

"Guess it doesn't hurt to look into things," Matt said, though he was still mulling over the idea. “But they’re probably picky, and I’ve never really even been around a dog, aside from passing them on the street. And, well. Sometimes we’re gone for a while, and I’ll bet guide dog puppies take even more work than puppies that are just pets.”

“Yeah,” Frank agreed, though not without another sigh. 

“It’s not a no,” Matt said, because, really, it wasn’t. More like a _not yet_. “And there are other ways to be around dogs. We could walk dogs or maybe volunteer at an animal shelter. Or maybe get an older dog, one that’s not as much work.”

“Yeah,” Frank repeated, this time sounding a little more cheerful.

“And when we’re too old and slow to go out kicking ass, maybe _then_ we could raise guide dog puppies.”

Frank pulled him a little closer. “I don’t think you’re ever going to stop protecting your city, Red,” he said, but his voice was low and affectionate. And, well, he wasn’t wrong. “But that sounds good.”

A dog. It would add some chaos into their lives, but maybe someday they’d raise a puppy that would end up making things better, not just for him and Frank but also for a blind person somewhere. And maybe it was nice to think a little longer term. 

Him and Frank, together, long term. Yeah. Matt liked the sound of that.


End file.
